Resident Evil Review: Horror Over Lore Was the Right Call
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil takes the franchise back to survival horror without trying to recreate the complicated continuity of Capcom’s games. Instead, the filmmaker behind Barbarian and Weapons captures what it actually feels like to be trapped inside a Resident Evil nightmare.
The story follows Brian, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, whose last-minute delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital quickly becomes a horrifying journey through increasingly dangerous locations. It’s a streamlined setup that gives Cregger plenty of room for gruesome monster reveals, bleak comedy, and some genuinely disturbing imagery.
Rather than filling the movie with familiar Resident Evil characters and Easter eggs, this reboot largely creates its own monsters, characters, and rules. That decision could frustrate longtime fans hoping for recognizable game lore, but it also allows the movie to establish a distinct identity inspired by survival horror rather than simply adapting it.
We break down why this approach works, how John Carpenter and Sam Raimi influences shape the movie, Austin Abrams’ performance, and why the film’s combination of horror, comedy, and surprising sadness makes this one of the franchise’s most unusual adaptations yet.
Chapters:
0:00 Resident Evil Finally Gets Survival Horror
0:29 The Journey To Raccoon City
1:11 Zach Cregger’s Monster Movie Approach
1:34 Why The Game Lore Takes A Backseat
1:58 The John Carpenter Influence
2:21 Resident Evil’s Wild Final Act
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Video by: Brandon Zachary, Jon Alba, & Jose Morfin
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